Sanders defiant as critics slam her welfare work requirement ad

JusttheNews.com ^ | September 28, 2026 | Ben Whedon

[MinorityRepublican]

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, R-Ark., is fighting backlash online after an ad she released to promote work requirements for welfare went viral and became a national controversy.

"Some critics online don't like my welfare work requirement ad. Next thing you know they’ll say I should have used cookies instead of cheese balls. If you are able-bodied you should not collect welfare simply because you choose not to work. Period," she posted on X.

But Sanders largely did not address the nature of the criticism, which was that the ad depicted a young, white man as living off of welfare while playing video games and eating Cheetos. White men aged 18-30 are statistically one of the least likely groups to receive state benefits.

Sanders's original post received more than 6 million views on X and attracted a flood of criticism from prominent conservatives, with many accusing her of scapegoating a "safe" target in white men, while ignoring the higher rates of welfare receipt among women and minority groups.

The ad also became the subject of a community note highlighting that many welfare recipients, particularly those enrolled in Medicaid, are older women with an average age of 41.

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TOPICS: Politics; Society
KEYWORDS:

[Tijeras_Slim]

I’ve always thought the Huckabees were political carnies.

[MinorityRepublican]

The ad is still up. You think that they’ll take it down by now.

[fidelis]

If she had used anyone other than a White male, she would have been blasted for racism or sexism. Better that she had used no picture at all.

[volare737]

Just think of what the reaction would have been in the MSM if she had used a black guy!

[KarlInOhio]

But if she had picked a woman and/or a non-white, the left would have launched an attack that made the Dresden firebombing look tame. At least the young white man was playing video games and eating Cheetos instead of burglarizing houses as shown in every alarm company ad.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Related: https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/4397217/posts

[volare737]

Yep, brilliant move to humiliate/embarrass your base…./s

[JayGalt]

She should have highlighted the people that need the welfare being sopped up by people defrauding the system by not working or better yet found a different aspect to address. I think she is now toast. She had the gloss of being pro Trump and the cachet of being a great press secretary. Now she is exposed as a political hack.

[ansel12]

At most that actor they used looked like a just laid off office nerd, clean, sober, and sitting in his normal looking living room playing video games.

[volare737]

If she had used a black woman,,,,there would be riots in Little Rock by now…..

[ansel12]

I think the choice wasn’t using more likely actors but instead was not making a stupid version of the ad at all, just write a different ad entirely to make the point.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Now she is exposed as a political hack.

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

[House Atreides]

“ …many accusing her of scapegoating a “safe” target in white men, while ignoring the higher rates of welfare receipt among women and minority groups….”
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Well… that’s exactly what she (or her campaign staff) did.

[Paladin2]

Thanks for the link.

I watched the ad.

It seems tame.

[Williams]

Oh please the point is she wants to stop welfare loafing WTH does it matter who is in the ad? Are Republicans this stupid?
Yes greater percentage of minorities are on welfare, but because there are more whites, lots of whites are on welfare.

[volare737]

True, but it is always a super safe bet to make the white guy look lazy, stupid, a fool or a clown. TV advertising has been setting the standard there for a while now. Have you ever seen it otherwise?

[taxesareforever]

How much outrage would there be if it had been a black man. There would probably be riots.

[Frank Drebin]

These "well she couldn't have used a black person or a woman she would've been called racist or sexist...." are ridiculous...Who gives a damn? It's time to stop worrying about that. It won't matter what you do or say or how hard one may try to virtue signal, they will still call you those things. Stop playing their bullish*t purity test games. You will never win. Stop fighting on their stupid ground by their bullish*t rules.

Facts are stubborn things. The facts regarding welfare and who receives it do not support the visual or script she approved for her commercial. The facts regarding welfare do not match the implication that unemployed young white males are the recipients of most welfare. The facts regarding welfare are that blacks and hispanics receive welfare and drag on the system at a rate triple and double their respective demographic percentage of the population. Even if you lump "hispanics" back into caucasian, as in US demo data before the 70s made up the term, that larger group still receives less welfare than other groups as a percentage relevant to the size of their population.

She has shown all of us who she really is. If your goal was to show who the largest problem groups are in the corrupt welfare system then you should have shown the ghetto queens. But instead we get a cowardly lie told about a group that is the only one they believe they can safely insult. I believe they're going to discover that those days are ended.

[jonrick46]